'Sole' cause divides panel in horse-racing injury suit

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted September 14, 2018 11:56 AM

Sharply rejecting what he called “attempts to torture” the meaning of the word “sole” in the sole-proximate-cause instruction, Justice Robert E. Gordon dissented from a decision that reinstated a verdict against jockey Rene Douglas in a case where the defendants (Arlington Park Racecourse and its owner, Churchill Downs) blamed Douglas’ fall from his mount, Born To Be, during the 2009 Arlington Matron Handicap on two nonparties: jockey Jaime Theriot and Martin Collins LLC, the manufacturer of …

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